The Indianapolis journal., 1887-10-09
A GREAT INVENTOR AT HOME.
The Days and Nights of Thomas A. Edison
New, Large and Costly Laboratory.

| Special to the Indianapolis Journal
NEWARK, N. j., Oct S-The daily life of
| man like Thomas A Edison is always of inter
| est. Much has been written about the great
electrician and his various inventions are famil-
lar to the public But since he moved to Orange
| and purchased one of the handsomest houses in
| any of New Yorks beautiful suburbs. and since
ne started a laboratory, there some
| features that new and more or less readable
| Mr.. Edison soon domesticated himself in his
| fine house at Llewellyn Park. The park is
| really part of Orange. and therefore it is
| proper to speak of Orange as the great inventors
home He says he is more thoroughly Jersevman
| than ever since he moved there Few men work
| harder than Edison, particularly when they
have amassed so large fortune. Each week
day. the youthful looking inventor is driven to
the Orange station of the Delaware. Lackawanna
& Western railroad. There he takes a train for
East Newark where his laboratory now is. He
works unremittingly among his chemicals and
machinery until $50 in the afternoon, when he
eeturns by train to Orange. Mrs. Edison inva-
riably meets him in the carriage and if the aft
etnoon is pleasant, they drive to the i'm mense
laboratory, that Edison in building on the
Orange Valley road, and spend nearly half an
hour inspecting the premises. At night, Edison
does his studying. He has pretty and unique
library in which he ponders the problems thar
are ever presenting themselves to his inventive
mind. 1t is that Edison retires until after
midnight He says he studies best and accom-
plishes most in those quiet hours in his library
The new laboratory that Edison is erecting is
unquestionably the finest in the world. It con-
sists of one large building and four smaller
ones. all of brick. The large building is nearly
completed. It has frontage of fifty feet the
Orange Valley road. and runs back to depth
of 275 feet on Lakeside avenue. 1t is three sto-
ries high. The smaller buildings being put
up on the north side of the large one, and run at
right angles with it and parallel with the Valley
road. Each building is % by 100 feet in dimen-
sons. and will be two stories in height. The
for experimental purposes by Mr.: Edison.
The large building will be the main
workshop. and will be filed with machinery
run by the most powerful engines. The smaller
structure nearest the Valley road will be the
inventors private laboratory IN which he will
spend his working hours and where he will be
free from intrusion. While he will not keep
himself as secret as keely, the motor man, does
in Philadelphia, it will be hard to obtain admit
tance to the private laboratory. great feature
of this private laboratory will be a table built up
foundation running down deep into the
ground and in no way connected with the build
ing The idea is to render the table proof against
any jar or motion from the machinery, any
other cause. One of the other small buildings
will be used for .uetalurgical purposes, and an
other will be magnifcently- equipped carpenter
shop The buildings will cost about $75, 900. and
will be ready for occupancy inside of fort
night
Mr.. Edison s most interested at present in his
latest and what he considers of the greatest |
of his discoveries. Reference is mad TO the pro-
cess by which the inventor claims he produce
electricity directly from heat. without the aid of
adynamo battery. The discovery first |
made public by Mr.. Edison paper he read be- |
fore the recent meeting of the American Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Science, New |
York. The paper gave a technical description |
of the process and widely printed at the |
time. The trouble is that it will require very
delicate machinery for the "pyromagnetIc mo- |
tor" as Edison calls it. The pieces of |
machinery needed only be obtained in |
Europe. When Edison ascertained that much by |
his experiments. he at cabed to England |
for the mechanism. which is being prepared
rapidly possible. In pushing the principle.
Edison made a small machine that developed
lifting power Of 700 pounds a minute. But he
needs a motor equal to three horsepower, and /
that is what he has sent to Europe for. Meanwhile
the experiments have necessarily to
standstilL The moment the new machinery
rives, however. Mr. Edison says he will go right
on with his tests and soon astonsh the world. as
he has done with many of his other dscov-
cries. LAWRENCE S. MOTT.